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tv   Caught on Camera  MSNBC  December 24, 2012 9:00pm-10:00pm PST

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don't drop the iron. >> with the ironing done, the men trigger their parachutes and float to earth, knowing they've caught a classic image on camera. really, guys? all this enthusiasm for ironing at 5,000 feet. do any of you actually iron at home? >> i think it was the first time steve's wife had seen him hold an iron. so that might ruin the rest. of his marriage. >> we thought so. fists flying at traffic stops. >> your body just goes into survival mode. >> cars careening out of control. >> something out of "dukes of
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hazzard." >> there's somebody in that car. >> and a plane in trouble landing on a highway. >> i was waiting for the impact. the crunch. >> some of the most dramatic, electrifying, unbelievable moments. >> i didn't do anything. >> oh, yes you did. and it's all caught on dashboard camera. caught on camera: dash cam diaries." i'm contessa brewer. welcome to "caught on camera." police officers have a lot of equipment to help them fight crime. guns, tasers, cuffs. but many departments also have another powerful tool. the dashboard cameras installed in police cruisers.
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as you'll see, they are often the silent partner that can speak volumes. a cop battles for his life in a roadside rumble. >> he was out to kill me. all bets were off. >> until he finds help from an unexpected source. >> december 11th, 2010, dayton, ohio. veteran police officer jonathan seiter pulls over 64-year-old otto coleman for a headlight violation. >> let me see your driver's license. >> what's the concern? >> the concern is that your headlights are out, sir. >> he started off being defensive with his responses. he was adamant that he had both headlights working. however, they were not. >> i had my headlights on. >> see your high beams were on. that's the problem there buddy. >> the officer soon discovers another problem. >> i suspected after he might have been a drunk driver because i did smell alcohol coming from somewhere. and i saw a pill bottle in his
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glove box. >> are those your pill bottles? >> sir, i'm asking you a question. >> are those your pill bottles? >> the officer is suspicious the pills are illegal and otto coleman is intoxicated. he calls for routine backup. >> state trooper chris colvert receives the call. >> he needs backup to finish his task but it's not an emergency situation. he's got things under control. officer seiter has otto coleman exit his vehicle so he can perform a search. >> step on out. >> what's the problem, sir? >> step on out. >> once mr. coleman gets out of the vehicle you can kind of see him kind of looking around. it's almost like someone is looking around to see if there's
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any witnesses to see who is going to see what happens next. >> what happens next is frightening. >> sir turn around. >> he latched on to me. he grabbed me. the fight was on. >> i tried to retreat from him. he held me close to him. he was not fighting to get away. he was fighting to hurt me. >> coleman grabs for the officer's taser and then reaches for his gun. >> well, the danger is if he would have gotten my gun, he would have used it on me. there's no doubt in my mind. >> car after car passes the assault. seiter radios for assistance. >> when you hear another law enforcement officer's radio key up and you just have plain language help, you know it's bad. i hit my lights and my sirens. i'm accelerating. your gut instinct is go, go, go. >> but time is running out as he
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races to the scene. coleman gains the upper hand in the fight. >> he was choking me and pushing me back over the trunk of his car. you just don't realize it. you are fighting for your life. >> as the officer struggles, backup arrives, but it's not trooper colvert. >> i saw her come around the corner of the car. >> a woman rushes into the melee and throws punches at otto coleman. now it's two against one. >> she started to distract him by hitting him on the head. >> the distraction works. >> i was able to break free enough so i could actually get some leverage and hit him. >> seiter is able to gain control. seconds later the sergeant arrives on the scene and helps finish the job. >> it's kind like tag team wrestling.
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it was time for me to tag in. >> with coleman under control, thoughts turn to the mysterious woman at the scene. >> i didn't know if she was friend or foe. she was in close proximity to the two. i was keeping an eye on her. >> more officers arrive on to the scene. as a precaution, a policeman handcuffs the woman but officer seiter quickly intervenes. >> i told the officer that had detained her that she helped me and he unhandcuffed her. police arrest otto coleman on multiple charges, including assault. he's not arrested for drunk driving. he was sentenced and convicted to 12 and a half years in prison. however, they discover that the 64-year-old has an extensive criminal record, including a previous attack on a police officer. authorities discover that the good samaritan who came to officer seiter's rescue is 29-year-old angela pierce. pierce is en route to a birthday party when she spots the fight. >> she, obviously, acted out of
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instinct. what she did, to me was heroic because not many people would get involved. >> since the incident, angela pierce receives a humanitarian award for her bravery and even has a facebook fan page dedicated to her. but her biggest fan remains officer jonathan seiter. >> we have been in contact since and i'm thankful that she was there. my wife is thankful that she was there. i've been blessed to still be here to be talking to you today. coming up -- police find themselves in an explosive situation. >> oh, my god. if there's somebody in that car. >> and later, cops on the highway face a whole different kind of traffic stop. >> he's going to crash and we're going to have a huge mess. people are going to get hurt out of this. when "caught on camera: dash cam diaries" continues. [ male announcer ] feeling like a shadow of your former self?
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police officers have seconds to react as a raging fire engulfs a car and its driver.
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>> i think there might be. >> i could see the flames and how they are burning inside the car. we don't have a lot of time. we've got to move fast. >> december 27th, 2007, ames, iowa. lieutenant jeff brinkley is on duty when 911 calls start ringing off the hook. >> 911, what is your emergency? >> there's a car on fire. >> 911. >> a car just crashed across the street, blew up. there's fire coming out of it. >> it just exploded. oh, my god, if there's somebody in that car. >> brinkley heads toward the blaze. >> my caller is stating the vehicle was moving when it caught on fire. >> i was concerned at that point based on the information we had that somebody was still in the car. so i stepped it up a little bit to try to get there. >> brinkley turns into the mall parking lot and sees flames engulfing the vehicle. >> when i arrived, the fire was over the whole back half of the vehicle. i knew there wasn't much time left if there was somebody in there just because the car was
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roaring. >> as brinkley arrives, he gets a request on the radio. >> need your camera on the car if i can get some video of the car burning before the fire department gets there. >> one of our arson investigators asked to get a video of the car for the investigation that was going to follow. >> he jumps into rescue mode. smoke fills the vehicle and the officer can't see inside. >> i just had to break out the windows in order to have visibility into the car. i couldn't see into it. i couldn't tell if anybody was in it or not. >> i think there might be. it looks like there was a crash. i got a window out of it but i can't get the smoke out. >> as brinkley plans his next move, another officer, clint hertz arrives on the scene. >> clint could see some body form in there.
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so then it was a matter of how we were going to get them out. >> the man is unconscious in the driver's seat of the car. hertz opens the passenger door while brinkley sprints to the driver's side. >> flames were already to the driver's door handle. i can't go in here and do it safely. we've got to get them out of the passenger side of the car. >> officer hertz unlatches the man's seat belt and pulls him across the passenger seat. the man is arrive but suffers from severe smoke inhalation. >> i've seen dead people that look better. he was gray. his tongue was hanging out of his mouth. i thought he was dead. >> brinkley stays with the victim while hertz races back into the raging inferno. >> we've got one out. we don't know if there's anybody else in there or not. >> the two officers still think there may be more people in the vehicle. >> after clint went back out it really burned fast then and it was nearly totally engulfed at that point. >> facing blistering heat and blinding smoke, officer hertz frantically searches the car for more victims.
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>> i didn't know if there was still fuel. cars burn for a while. things start to pop and explode. >> suddenly, an explosion rocks the vehicle. >> he stuck his head in, kind of came back out i tong get a breath of fresh air. thank goodness he did. right where he had been there was a big pop and flame. >> miraculously, the blast doesn't severely injure officer hertz. i yelled at him, get out of there. i didn't think we could get anybody else out if there was anybody else in there. >> they are relieved to find no more victims in the car. at the hospital, doctors are able to treat the man rescued from the burning vehicle. >> 30 more seconds in the car and he would have succumbed to his injuries from the exposure to the smoke and the chemicals and things in the car. >> in the days following the incident, investigators are able to piece together what led to the car fire. >> we were able to figure out he had actually run a stop sign.
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probably unconscious. there was enough snow in the curb on the street that it vaulted him into the air about four feet. when it knocked over the pole and the gas tank came down on those bolts that hold that pole on to the base and ripped the gas tank open and started the fire. >> nearly one year after the rescue, officers brinkley and hertz are given the award of valor for their act of bravery. >> we don't get into this line of work looking to get awards or get medals. while that was pretty cool it was kind of what i think anyone else in our department would have done presented with the same set of circumstances. >> officer clint hertz continued his acts of courage in afghanistan as a proud member of the iowa national guard. >> he's the hero here. i'd like him to be here with us now doing this, but he's over there serving our country. >> from a car on fire to shots fired, a police officer faces grave danger when a suspected drunk driver suddenly turns violent.
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it's the wee hours of january 2nd, 2010. and hamilton, montana, police officer ross jessup is behind an suv. raymond davis has had a run-in with law enforcement earlier that night. he looked drunk and was warned by officers not to drive. now an hour later, officer jessup spots him on the road and pulls him over for a traffic violation. >> how is it going tonight? >> good. how are you? >> the reason why i pulled you over, that was a turn only lane that you drove through that red light. >> actually, that was a street light. >> a turn only lane. how much have you had to drink tonight? >> plenty. >> plenty? >> how much? >> hold on. >> the driver pulls the trigger twice. luckily for the officer, the
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first round from his pistol is empty and the next round misses. >> shots fired. >> the driver crashes into a nearby utility box causing an explosion. as officer jessup approaches the vehicle, he is clearly shaken by the near death experience. >> 651-63. that vehicle is about a search and rescue. >> but he still has a job to do. other officers respond to the scene and surround the vehicle unsure if the suspect still has ammunition. >> shut your engine off and show us your hands. >> after a few minutes, officers approach the suv and discover the driver raymond davis has been killed. officer jessup's rounds have fatally wounded him.
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several months later, an internal investigation determines that the officer's use of force was justified in the shoot-out and a coroner's jury agrees. the driver had a history of violence that included aggravated battery and assaulting a police officer. coming up -- traffic on the highway is bumper to propeller? >> when i looked out the windshield, all i saw was the bottom of the airplane. >> when "caught on camera: dash cam diaries" continues.
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an air show pilot performs the stunt of his life. >> this is not going to be good. a plane just landed on the highway. >> pilot bill leff has been flying airplanes for more than four decades. >> flying say great thing. you become part of the airplane and it becomes an extension of you. and that's what's great about flying. it's just the freedom of it. >> he does more than just fly.
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he wows crowds across the globe, performing death-defying stunts at air shows. >> i do loops and rolls and things called cuban 8s which two loops back to back. >> i will admit there are moments in that -- in his air show career that have scared me. he can lose his life doing this if he's not careful. >> leff's plane of choice is his 1943 t-6 texan. these historic planes were used during world war ii to train fighter pilots. >> it was called the t-6 texan because it was built in dallas, texas. designed in the late 1930s. i was looking for an airplane that i could do aerobatics with. it's been a great airplane. >> july 22nd, 2007. bill leff and his son greg are flying to the air venture event in oshkosh, wisconsin. >> it's a collection of pilots that really enjoy airplanes of
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all kinds from little home-built airplanes that they build out of steel tubing and wood to big jets. oshkosh airport becomes the busiest airport in the world for that week. there will be as many as 13,000 airplanes. >> during air venture, the population of oshkosh skyrockets as people pour into the city on highway 41. >> it's busy all day because people are going to and from the air show at all different times. >> the leff's are having an uneventful flight. >> the engine had been running smoothly. i even commented to my son on how good things were. >> 20 miles south of oshkosh over fond du lac, the engine dies. >> the engine totally quit at that point. the engine was shaking pretty violently. >> the plane loses altitude quickly. >> to be honest with you, the first thought came to my mind is this isn't good. >> bill knows there's a small airport in fond du lac.
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i called fond du lac tower. they cleared me to land on any runway if i could get there. >> it soon becomes apparent to bill he's going to need to find a different solution. >> so my choices were parking lots, housing developments and buildings. >> but then bill spots another option. highway 41. >> it was the clearest open piece of pavement that i could get the airplane down on. >> but on the highway, traffic is heavy with people en route to the air show. state trooper scott linak is on the shoulder of the road helping a disabled vehicle. >> i was dispatched for a motor home with a flat tire. we were trying to get as many people as we could to move over to give him space to change the tire. >> just behind rookie trooper chris and his supervisor luke newman assist linak. >> when you turn your lights on, your camera goes on.
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we were providing lights for trooper linak and normally you'd turn your camera off. but being that i was new to the job, i forgot to turn the camera off. >> up above, bill leff frantically scopes out the highway and formulates a plan for his emergency landing. >> there was a space of 8 to 10 car lengths that basically looked like a moving runway to me. so my thought was, if i could land in that space, the cars behind me will stop and the cars in front of me will keep going so i ought to be able to stop before i get to them. >> on the ground, troopers receive a call of a road rage incident. >> we were pulling out into traffic to go to that other call when this all happens. >> they pull out on to the highway and right in the middle of bill leff's makeshift runway. they can't believe their eyes as the plane glides overhead. >> basically we saw the underneath of it. there was no engine noise. its engine had seized up. it was completely silent. >> my first thought was he's going to crash and we're going
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to have a huge mess. people are going to get hurt out of this. >> the plane speeds toward trooper linak's cruiser up ahead. >> it was almost an instant reaction to kind of duck and brace. when i looked out the windshield, all i saw was the bottom of the airplane. >> the pilot's wheels touch down and he lands the plane on the highway. >> so you are just standing on the brakes trying to stop and hope you don't hit something. i was waiting for the impact, the crunch. >> the troopers create a moving roadblock to halt traffic on the highway they make their way toward the plane. >> because you are always planning for the worst, hoping for the best. are the pilots hurt? how many cars did they strike? >> when they reach the plane, they are relieved to find it's in one piece and did not hit any cars. >> this could have been a major disaster. a lot of vehicles with all that fuel and everything else there could have been horrendous accident. this is probably the best outcome we could have had of any other possibility we could think of.
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>> bill leff and his son exit the plane feeling lucky to be alive. the trooper greets them at the wing. >> he just stopped and said you really scared me. >> i said, well, yeah, kind of scared me, too. >> he didn't seem excited about the situation at all like they land on highways every day. >> bill calls his wife before she sees him on the news. >> i could have lost both of them at one time, so both my husband and my son. that's a scary, scary moment for me. >> but those driving on highway 41 that day will never forget when they witnessed their own up close and personal air show. >> watch the video now. you are like, wow. it's still hard to believe that happened. and nobody got hurt. >> this is once in a career kind of thing. probably one of the craziest things i've ever experienced. >> i know you are recording this, but i got better video. i just talked to the police. they have dash cam.
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coming up -- a traffic stop turns into a violent confrontation. >> your body just goes in survival mode. >> and later, a car takes flight. >> it flew all the way across the parking lot and it never touched the ground until it hit the bank wall and into the bank. >> when "caught on camera: dash cam diaries" continues.
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christmas day could bring strong tornadoes across the gulf coast. it's part of the same storm that's been dumping snow farther north from nevada to indiana. as norad follows santa claus's path toward the u.s., the tracking agency has been taking thousands of calls from kids nationwide. back to our program. welcome back to "caught on
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camera." i'm contessa brewer. every time a cop pulls someone over, there is the chance for danger. in this next video, not only does the dash camera record shocking violence, it also makes the case. >> another traffic stop erupts in violence forcing a police officer to fight for his life. >> your body just goes in survival mode. and you are going to do whatever you can to survive to make it home to your wife and kids. >> july 21st, 2010, middletown, ohio. officer jason deaton is finishing up on a call when dispatch alerts him to a nearby hit and run accident involving two cars colliding. >> dispatcher started dispatching myself and other units to be on the lookout for a blue van with a ladder on it. >> within seconds of the call, deaton sees the van drive by. he flips on his blue and red flashers which automatically
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engages his dash cam. >> i got the vehicle up here. >> the blue van pulls over. officer deaton approaches the vehicle and identifies the driver as eric german, the 45-year-old is an intimidating figure. >> first when i make contact with him, i could tell he was much larger than i was. i could tell that he was in fairly good shape. >> almost from the start, deaton senses that german is going to be trouble. >> he was talking on the cell phone. i asked him to hang up the cell phone. then he grabbed his cell phone, hung up and threw it on the dashboard. that kind of made me aware that for some odd reason this guy is having a very bad day. >> it's about to get worse. as the officer questions german about the hit and run, the suspect makes a peculiar claim. >> he started telling me that he was one of us. i said what do you mean? it showed me a badge but it said security right across it. i could tell he was not a police officer.
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>> the officer thinks that german is trying to curry favor with him but his claim just makes deaton more suspicious. >> i told him that that's not a police officer's badge. that made him upset. he threw the badge towards the windshield dashboard area. >> now in addition to leaving the scene of an accident, german is impersonating a police officer. a serious offense. deaton radios for backup. >> at this time i was telling control to have another unit step it up because i could tell that he was very frustrated and very upset at the time. >> officer malcolm tipton receives the call. >> i have worked long enough with officer deaton to know if he says step it up that means i need to get there now. he needs someone there. >> tipton hits his lights and sirens and punches it to the scene. back at the blue van, officer deaton tries to take control of the tense situation. >> at the time, i had him step out of the vehicle because i could tell that he was very upset. he wasn't comply with my orders. i didn't know what was inside that vehicle. and if i could get him to step
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out and get him into handcuffs, i kind of would feel i would have one step up on him. >> once out of the vehicle, german becomes combative. officer deaton pulls out his taser. i aimed it at him and asked him to step back, calm down. deaton attempts to cuff the suspect. i said you're not under arrest. i'm going to place you in handcuffs for your safety and mine. i then grabbed his hands. as i went to put the left handcuff on, he decided to pull away. >> with one handcuff fastened, german struggles to get away. the officer aims his taser and lets the barbs fly. it has no impact. >> the one barb hitting him in his right shoulder. the other barb hit him in his belt. the way a taser works, it works like positive, negative. if it doesn't have both, it's not going to have both and the belt grounded out one of the barbs. german snaps. he pulls deaton toward him and unleashes a furious punch to his face. >> the first thing i thought in my mind was that [ bleep ] just hit me.
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at that time your body just goes into survival mode. >> deaton grabs on tight to the loose handcuff as the two exchange blows. >> i did not want to let go of the cuffs because he could then turn that and use that as like a bladed weapon against you. i know he's bigger than me. i feel if i can get him to the ground, i'm going to kick his ass. >> deaton again uses his taser. this time uses a technique called a drive stun on german. >> i could take the cartridge off the taser and push the taser and cycle it. >> deaton blasts german's back and neck with his taser. at the same time, officer malcolm tipton reaches the scene. he races toward the brawl with his taser locked and loaded. >> as i got about 10 to 15 feet from them, officer deaton turned mr. german toward me and gave me a clear shot.
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tipton lets loose the barbs and zaps german with a direct hit. >> the officers cuff and arrest german. >> paramedics arrive at the scene to treat officer deaton. >> my adrenaline was still rushing. i saw all this blood that was on me and at this time i could see it was dripping off my nose. >> deaton's nose has been sliced open from one of german's punches. in the safety of the ambulance, the officer realizes the severity of the attack. >> realized, man, this is for real. this guy was really trying to take me out. luckily i'm still here and i started thinking of my wife and kid. good thing was, i was on the better side of it, even though i did get injured. >> and his injuries are significant. >> basically, i had to have reconstructive surgery on my whole eye socket. he broke the bone here, broke my temple bone and broke my eyebrow. and i had to have four titanium plates put in.
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>> six months after the assault, eric german goes to trial. he pleads not guilty by reason of insanity. >> i didn't do anything. i don't know why you guys are doing this to me. >> during the trial, jurors are shown the dash cam radio. >> the first time they watched it, several of them had to turn away because they couldn't watch it. that really left an imprint on them. >> the dash cam video pretty much made the case. you can't fight the video. >> german is convicted of five charges, including assault, impersonating a police officer and fleeing the seen of an accident. he is sentenced to six years in prison. >> if he would have just stopped, he would have got a $100 citation and had to fix the lady's mirror. now he's lost six years of his life. >> officer deaton goes back on his beat after a three-month recovery from his injuries. he looks at that roadside altercation as a learning experience and faces every day with a new routine. >> now every time i walk out the door i always make sure i say bye to my family because you never know. that might be the last time you see them.
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coming up -- these suspects really break the bank. >> you crashed a car into the bank. there's a problem here. >> when "caught on camera: dash cam diaries" continues. r their . that's double miles you can actually use. tragically, their buddy got sacked by blackouts. but it's our tradition! that's roughing the card holder. but with the capital one venture card you get double miles you can actually use. [ cheering ] any flight, anytime. the scoreboard doesn't lie. what's in your wallet? hut! i have me on my fantasy team.
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a car chase ends with a bang when a jeep launched into the air. >> something out of "dukes of hazzard." >> and crashes into a bank. >> you just don't see people go through a brick wall like that and survive. >> august 18th, 2002, just outside dayton, ohio. about 2:00 in the morning, state trooper kyle albright is on the lookout for drunk drivers. at a red night, he spots a potential violator. >> as he turned left in front of
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me, i realized that he doesn't have any lights on. >> but instead of pulling over, the suspect hits the gas. >> i thought, well, i've got a drunk. he doesn't want to get caught. he's going to try and lose me and get home so he can be safe. >> the chase is on. the vehicle travels at speed pushing 100 miles an hour through a residential area. albright stays on the jeep's tail as they approach an intersection with a bank on the corner. the bank albright use himself. >> there's a rise at every entrance. he just thought, well, i can make this turn. going that fast, 90-mile-an-hour, you're not going to make a 90-degree turn that quickly. >> the jeep launches up an embankment and goes airborne. it bursts through the wall of the bank. >> it flew all the way across the parking lot and it never touched the ground until it hit the bank wall and into the bank. the distance is about 80, almost 90 feet.
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>> albright can't believe his eyes. >> he went 14 to 15 feet high when he ramped it because his passenger side mirror hit the light pole right beside the bank. that was 13 feet up. >> trooper albright pulls into the bank's parking lot and calls for backup. as he cautiously approaches the bank, he expects the worst. >> when he first hit the bank i thought, oh, my god. i'm going to have dead people. >> to albright's surprise, the driver, marcus turner and his passenger carl hankerson, are very much alive. >> i see two sets of feet diving over the counter inside the bank to try and hide. so i just kind of kept walking back and forth from the front to the back until other officers arrived and then we surrounded the building. >> hankerson and turner give up and turn themselves in. >> they acted like it was no big deal. it's like, it's 2:00 in the morning. you crashed a car into the bank. there's a problem here.
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>> it turns out the suspects are not drunk. officers discover that the high-flying jeep was stolen that night from a local dealership. but that's just the beginning. >> after we searched them, there were 24 more sets of keys that they had taken from this dealership that they had stolen the car from. had they not been caught, they could have easily gone back and taken more cars. >> the driver, michael turner is convicted on multiple charges, including breaking and entering and grand theft auto and is sentenced to one year in prison. charges are dismissed for passenger carl hankerson. but to trooper albright, the most shocking part of that night is not that the suspects make it out alive or even the gaping hole in the wall. it's the fact that through all of the damage, the bank's alarm doesn't go off. >> to me it should have set some sort of alarm off with a big hole in the wall, but it didn't. next day, i closed my accounts and i went to a new bank.
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a little more than one year later, officer albright captures another shocking event on his dash cam. but this time it would nearly cost him his life. >> we look up and that's when i see my car coming at me. >> september 7th, 2003. it's about 1:00 in the morning and kyle albright is once again on the lookout for drunk drivers. >> i was just doing my -- what i call my drunk run. stay off the main roads because drunk drivers will take a lot of back roads, a lot of side streets to avoid getting caught. >> albright eyes a possible drunk driver. >> there was a corvette that was in front of me. when he hit about 85-mile-an-hour i turned my lights on. >> albright pulls over the suspect and starts to administer a dui test. >> i did all my field sobriety test. determined the individual was too intoxicated to be driving. placed him under arrest for
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driving under the influence of alcohol. >> as he cuffs the man, another cruiser pulls behind albright's vehicle and turns on his dashboard camera. >> he pulled up to help keep an eye on me, the traffic and the passenger that was in the car. >> trooper albright pats down the dui suspect, searching for weapons and drugs. >> all right. go ahead and spread your feet apart. spread your feet way apart. point your toes out. >> i was almost done. i was searching his very last leg to put him in the car and take him to jail. okay. you say you don't have anything else that's going to stick me or poke me or cut me, right? >> suddenly, without warning -- >> another vehicle side swipes the backup cruiser and careens full speed into albright's squad car. >> we look up and you can see us look up right at the last second and that's when i see my car coming.
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>> both dash cams catch the brutal crash. >> [ bleep ]. oh, [ bleep ]. >> albright's left leg is mangled on impact and the pain is excruciating. >> i had planted my foot to try and move out of the way and the bumper actually hit me on the inside of my leg and it bent my knee to the side instead of front, back like it's supposed to bend. >> my knee is killing me. son of a -- >> the force kind of just threw me over the top of the first car that i had stopped. >> and i ended up next to the guard rail. trooper albright goes into crisis mode. he hops on one foot, tending to the injured. >> kind of one of them things where you fight through the pain. okay. where is the officer at? where is this guy at? where is this person at? >> the dui suspect is crushed between his car and albright's cruiser. on impact, albright had lifted the man off the ground, possibly
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saving him from a worse injury. >> apparently i picked him straight up off the ground because my car hit him on the front side of his legs. and it smashed him down on top of the hood of my car. >> take those off of him, please. >> albright and another officer dislodged the man from between the two vehicles. incredibly, he only suffers minor injuries. >> once i realized where everybody was at, i kind of collapsed in the grass and that's when it really started hurting. >> oh, my knee is killing me. >> authorities soon determine that the driver who slammed into trooper albright's vehicle is 50-year-old robert stein. stein is intoxicated and has traces of cocaine in his system. police arrest stein and he's found guilty two of counts of aggravated vehicular assault and is sentenced to three years in prison. >> kind of one of those things where they are going to do what they are going to do regardless of the consequences. >> those consequences turn out to be severe.
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trooper kyle albright is forced into medical retirement because of his injuries. >> i do miss it. that's all i've ever been since i've been 21 years old. that's all i've ever known is being a cop. >> but kyle albright has turned the life-changing events of that night into a positive. he uses the dash cam video as a teaching tool. >> i go to schools, high schools. i talk about the effects of drinking and driving and i use that video to show them this is real and it doesn't just affect me. it affected my family. and i try to put that across to kids when they want to go out and drink and drive. think about your family. you have to either, a, come visit you in the hospital or, b, get to go to your funeral. coming up -- >> this guy gives the shirt off his back to make this clip even better.
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>> it was only a matter of time that he was going to get caught. >> when "caught on camera: dash cam diaries" continues. ...but he'd wait for her forever, for any reason, and would always be there with the biggest welcome home. for a love this strong, dawn only feeds him iams. compared to other leading brands, it has 50% more animal protein. ...to help keep rocky's body as strong as a love that never fades... if he ever lets her leave again. iams. keep love strong.
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a suspected limo thief leads police on a bizarre chase with an electrifying conclusion. >> he's got no shirt on. he's all caught up and sweaty trying to fight with people. this guy was crazy. >> east point, michigan. about 15 miles northeast of detroit. john gambino owns the a-one limo company. on october 15th, 2009, he finds one of his $85,000 limousines has been stolen. >> we were trying to figure out who and what and why. >> two days later, gambino gets a tip that the thief just left a local strip club. he alerts police of the stolen vehicle and its possible location. but he also decides to take matters into his own hands. >> i took a ride out to try to
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find my car. i just had that instinct that, you know what? i know i'm going to find my car. >> those instincts proved dead on. gambino searches the area around the strip club. as he drives past a nearby gas station, he spots the stolen limo. no one is in the driver's seat, but the engine is still running. gambino pulls into the gas station and calls 911. >> my blood was flowing. i was just like panting and i just, you know, knew that something is going to happen and hopefully it wasn't bad. >> gambino wants to make sure that the suspect doesn't take off before police arrive. he approaches his stolen limo. >> there was nobody in the front seat. the window was cracked open. i reached in there and grabbed the keys and put them in my pocket. i knew that car is not going anywhere. >> the suspected thief is in the
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back of the limo and sees gambino snag the keys. >> gambino brazenly confronts the man. i open the door and grab both of his hands. he goes, i got a gun. i said no you don't because i have both of your arms. >> the policeman pulls into the gash station. he captures the two men wrestling. >> when i arrived to the gas station, i pulled in right behind the limo. from there you could see there's quite a bit of commotion. there were two white males fighting. >> as he approaches the brawl, the suspect takes off running. but not before gambino rips the man's shirt off. >> i was trying to grab him down to the ground. but he wouldn't go down. >> the suspect was trying anything and everything to get away from him to avoid getting captured. >> i just grabbed his coat, his shirt and he got a little wormy and got away from me. i just assumed the guy running was the bad guy. >> the suspect makes a mad dash to a nearby mcdonald's. >> he was actually right where
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they were frying french fries and burgers and i was able to chase him back behind the counter. >> he runs into a storage room surrounded by windows. the camera stays focused on the window as one by one confused looking passengers leave the vehicle. meanwhile, the officer's mike picks up the action inside the mcdonald's. >> it was only a matter of time that he was going to get caught in that storage room whether he had locked it or not. >> open this [ bleep ] door. open this [ bleep ] door. you better [ bleep ] open it because i have the cavalry coming. >> the cavalry comes in the form of officer scott silver. >> where is my partner? where is the suspect? >> you better come quietly. >> the limo owner frantically watches the action from the outside. >> all of a sudden, i saw him grab a chair and then he was
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trying to smash the window. >> the window actually broke. he went through the window. >> i see this guy dive through this plate glass window at mcdonald's shirtless, all caught up. at the point i'm thinking this guy is pretty crazy. >> the two officers and gambino give chase as the suspect bolts back toward the limo. to everyone's shock, he dives into the back seat. >> at the time there was nobody in the limo. there's no driver. it's my initial instinct was he was possibly going for a weapon or something. >> not taking any chances, his men blast the suspect with their tasers. >> we both hit him in the upper torso with 50,000 volts. >> it's the end of the line for this car thief. john gambino is thrilled to have his vehicle back. but knows taking the law into his own hands is a roll of the dice. >> god above was watching there.
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it was very dangerous. it was kind of stupid of me doing that and i think about that all the time. i just hope it never happens again. >> police question the shirtless suspect and find out that the intense chase is the climax of an already crazy adventure. >> he was driving around to strip clubs, casinos in inner city detroit picking up various people that he would just stop at a street corner and say, hey, you want to get in. these people provide him with drugs. basically he had like a mobile party going on in the back. >> it turns out the suspect, 28-year-old keith todd, is a seasoned car thief. >> he was imprisoned for a couple of years for auto theft. receiving and concealing stolen property, specifically automobiles. but the big question perplexing the officers, why would he jump into the back seat of an empty limousine? police find out he did not have a weapon there. >> it ended up that he was highly intoxicated.

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